Back To Breakfast With Farrakhan

By Richard B. Muhammad - Editor | Last updated: May 24, 2016 - 9:53:52 AM

Min. Farrakhan with the hosts of The Breakfast Club, a top urban radio show and favorite on the internet. Photo: Jesse Muhammad

NEW YORK—The Breakfast Club, a popular hip hop morning show, hosted Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan for a second session and there was no disappointment.

The dialogue between the 83-year-old freedom fighter and Breakfast Club host trio Charlemagne Tha God, DJ Envy and Angela Yee went for about 90 minutes.

It touched a variety of subjects—the run for the White House in 2016 and candidates Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, Black self-determination, economics, respect for women, the successful 20th anniversary of the Million Man March, Justice Or Else! last October, and a rising Black consciousness were among topics discussed May 23 in the studios of Power 105.1 in Manhattan.

But Min. Farrakhan opened by thanking his hosts for having him on the show last year, which instantly connected a man working in the Black struggle for nearly 60 years with a new, fearless generation of Black young people.

That effort helped to make the Justice Or Else! gathering in Washington, D.C., successful, drawing an estimated 800,000 to 1.5 million people, with no major media coverage, the Minister noted.

“I wanted to come to you and be with you where you are most comfortable to say thank you,” he said. “The media that really helped us was social media and (programs) like yours.”

Questions about the aftermath of the gathering led to an update from Min. Farrakhan. He described how 8,000 people have answered his call for 10,000 Fearless to stand between the guns and gangs in the Black community and make the neighborhoods a decent place to live.

What is needed is a unified effort to pool resources and create employment for youth while negative forces in the community and those who suck the economic lifeblood out of the community are fought, he said.

The way forward is not dependent on White-owned Black Entertainment Television and similar entities, the Minister said in response to a question from DJ Envy about the network’s failure to cover Justice Or Else!.

When Bob Johnson, a Black billionaire entrepreneur, owned the network 20 years ago, he supported the march financially and was a tremendous help, the Minister pointed out. Then talk show host Bev Smith, with her popular BET cable network program, was a great help too, he said.

Mr. Johnson took out a full-page ad in USA Today backing the Million Man March in 1995, Min. Farrakhan said. The event drew over 1 million men to the U.S. Capitol for a demonstration devoted to Atonement, Reconciliation and Responsibility.

The National Mall in Washington, D.C. for Justice Or Else! On Oct. 10, 2015 was filled with throngs of people.

It was clear such efforts at self-determination are necessary to free the Black community from a colonial-like existence with outside forces controlling and benefiting from Black suffering, the Minister said.

He used scripture, history, science, social and economic trends and conditions and nature to pull together an insightful and incisive message based on the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, his mentor and patriarch of the Nation of Islam.

His passion was again evident and his wisdom and commitment was shown great respect even as the hosts questioned him. The Breakfast Club is often known for irreverence, sometimes ribald humor and entertainment news. The Minister’s interview not only allowed Min. Farrakhan to share wisdom from his teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, it also allowed the hosts to share a more serious side of themselves.

Hillary Clinton

The Minister acknowledged their intelligence and influence with young people. He encouraged the trio to continue to bring on and question serious guests as Mrs. Clinton came on the show a few months ago.

There were positives I saw with Mr. Trump, in the sense that refusing to take money from those who usually give to political leaders made the GOP contender freer, Minister explained. But, there was never an endorsement of the billionaire businessman nor any candidate.

“I was on radio in Chicago and I was talking about Mr. Trump and certain things he was saying, like just go into Iraq and take the oil,” said Min. Farrakhan. That sounded like the mob Corleone family in the Godfather, a popular mafia movie and series, he noted.

Donald Trump

Mr. Trump is peeling back the onion of White civility and is being himself, said the Minister. More and more of the racial rancor of his followers is coming out, he said.

What should be done in politics that demands choosing the lesser of two evils? “Pray,” said the Minister as his interviewers erupted into laughter.

If Mr. Trump is politically incorrect or “not presidential,” he has not taken on the persona of a man with character seeking the highest office in the land, but directing the killing of people and overthrowing governments are what U.S. presidents do, said Min. Farrakhan.

Mrs. Clinton is likely the most qualified candidate and intelligent, but she is not a good person, he said. She helped kill Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, destroyed the country and helped unleash a refugee crisis from North Africa, the Minister said.

Bernie Sanders, running for the Democratic presidential nomination, is probably the most honest candidate, he said. But care is needed because this is one of the most important elections in America’s history as voters are choosing the person who can take the United States all the way down, he warned.

Bernie Sanders during a campaign for the 2016 presidential election.

“The system is rotten to the core … You either vote for Satan or the devil and you catch hell with either one,” said Min. Farrakhan. Choosing Mr. Trump or Mrs. Clinton will take the country to hell but no candidate is speaking properly to conditions facing Blacks, he stressed.

And can Mr. Sanders muster the strength to keep his promises? But the most enlightened people know the system is rotten, he said.

If Blacks were united with an intelligent self-interest, that could be used to obtain some benefit, the Minister said.

America is against “the little man,” with designed destruction aimed at Blacks and Latinos and a failure to come together will mean suffering the evil of those in high places, he continued.

The Bible speaks of a battle against such powers and wicked spiritual principalities going on now, Min. Farrakhan said.

The Bible, however, called for God’s people to come out of Babylon and America is that modern Babylon.

Elijah Muhammad called for an independent political party that could support justice for those who are locked out—the Black, Brown, Red and poor Whites, he said.

But the crisis is growing and growing Black anger may mean literally fighting to be free, the Minister said.

“Who could argue with us about working to make our communities a decent place to live?” he asked.

Give the tax dollars to us and let us police ourselves and we must set up proper education for “all those in the colonies,” he said.

No pimping, no hustling can exist when we can create institutions and jobs that serve our people, said Min. Farrakhan.

Min. Farrakhan pointed to the example of Chinatown in New York where inside of America the Chinese are separate but control and own businesses in their community and the destinies of their communities.

He pointed to the example of Chinatown in New York where inside of America the Chinese are separate but control and own businesses in their community and the destinies of their communities.

In the Black community, immigrants from different nations come and extract money and the community suffers from moral and social ills—guns, drugs, prostitution—as a result of economic and other deprivation, he said.

It is up to Blacks to create a future for themselves and take responsibility for themselves and their children, said Min. Farrakhan. He appealed to Black women to understand their role as co-creators of life with God and the sacredness of their wombs and bodies. No man should have access to you, use you for sex and toss you away like used tissue paper, Min. Farrakhan stressed.

Immigrants band together to support one another, establish their own banks and lend to one another, pulling resources out of the Black community to benefit themselves, he said.

Blacks get $1.1 trillion out of the U.S. economy, making Blacks the ninth richest country in the world and nations with less are building hospitals, farms, factories and working as a nation, he observed.

Some 50 million Blacks keep begging for what they must do for themselves, said Min. Farrakhan. Meanwhile money circulates in the Asian, Jewish and even the Latino community much more than the few hours Black dollars stay in the Black community, he said.

Today Blacks want to spend money with their own and supported a call for boycotting Christmas but not Jesus last fall, the Minister explained. Between support for the non-spending campaign and unusually warm weather from God, winter sales tanked and major corporations, some 200 Wal-Marts, 20 Macy’s stores, Best Buy and others went out of business, he said.

It’s time to pool resources and provide healthy choices and services for the community while putting those who bring unhealthy food and vices into Black neighborhoods out Min. Farrakhan said. “People just come into the Black community and there is no structure here,” he said.

But that is changing and Black youth have the proper spirit to protect the community but need guidance and leadership that can be trusted, he said. One day those who commit horrible crimes, rape and molest children will pay the ultimate price for their heinous deeds but people have to be taught first and given an opportunity to change, the Minister said. None of our hands are clean enough to assert the law of God right now, he added.

Pooling resources requires trust and Black people trust Farrakhan, said the Minister. He called for Blacks to invest .35 cents a week or just under $20 a month in the Nation of Islam’s Economic Program. He would steward the money, which would be used to build a Black economic base, and pledge his life if the people’s trust was violated. But, he added, after nearly six decades of serving Black people, it’s too late to change into a thief and I cannot be bought. Blacks trust me even if they don’t agree with me, said Min. Farrakhan.

Political leaders elected to serve Black interests must be made an example of if they sell-out the interests of those who put them in office, the Minister continued.

He warned of plots to kill Black people through bad food, tainted water, unsafe vaccines and through drugs that can cause suicidal thoughts. There are efforts to feminize Black men, plant the seed of homosexuality in their minds and chemically foster that sexual leaning, he said. Meanwhile educated Black women are left with men who are not productive and often over-sexed in a sex mad American society, said Min. Farrakhan. All of these elements are parts of a planned effort to destroy the Black male and gain access to the Black female as the White man’s world continues to fall, he warned.

Blacks remain too trusting of an enemy who used smallpox in blankets to kill Native Americans, who has a history of deceit and murder and who is closing trauma centers as Blacks suffer from fratricidal violence, the Minister said.

President Richard Nixon, who saw Blacks as political enemies, called for making “passions” of Blacks criminal, said Min. Farrakhan. An example of this were the harsh laws that punished Blacks who indulged in drug use.

Then in 1994, Bill Clinton and now Vice President Joe Biden were architects of a Crime Bill that has led to mass incarceration, the Minister said. Today marijuana is laced with dangerous chemicals and is a gateway to harder drugs, he said.

You are your worst enemy if you are ignorant of the threats to your life and live lives that lead to early death, said Min. Farrakhan.

Asked about his contacts with hip hop artists, Min. Farrakhan pointed to a secret meaning between rap industry execs and those running private prisons who wanted more people locked up to make more money. They decided to take enlightening rap born in the South Bronx and transform it into gangsta rap to foment violence and destruction, he said.

We must stop these beefs with one another, he said, adding that he would like to see conflict between Charlemagne Tha God and Birdman of Cash Money Records resolved. We need to make peace and go after the real enemy, he said.

“When I meet a rapper I am looking at the god in him.” The work is to have someone with millions of followers, and hip hop with a global influence, grow in consciousness and understanding responsibility, Min. Farrakhan continued.

The Minister said his role is not to judge but to teach and get rappers to see their gifts are God-given and require responsibility.

“I love my people,” said Min. Farrakhan. God is backing me and I speak boldly for my people because I am backed by God, he said. Watch the weather over the coming days, he added.

Charlemagne Tha God was elated to once again spend time with Min. Farrakhan. It was inspiring and a chance to show a different side of who I am, he said. Years ago in South Carolina, the popular co-host of the nationally syndicated host added, the Minister told me I was more than what I appeared. “To not give him this opportunity would be wrong,” Charlemagne said.

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